I am sure one of the most popular requests of GoDaddy is the ability to manage inbound purchase inquiries and offers for domain names listed for sale via Afternic. This is no surprise considering this was a major selling point of two companies GoDaddy acquired – Dan.com and Uniregistry.
Afternic just announced self-brokerage capabilities have been enabled for approximately 100,000 people who are members of GoDaddy’s Discount Domain Club’s top tier. I can see this has been enabled in my account, and I am going to test the platform to see how it works for a buyer and seller to get a feel for how it works, how it looks, and the timing of inquiries and responses.
Notably, the sale commission for a successful transaction is the same percentage as it would be if a GoDaddy/Afternic broker were negotiating on behalf of the owner. The advantage (or disadvantage depending on your perspective) is the domain registrant can respond and negotiate in their own style and at their own pace.
I like the idea of this, particularly because I typically enjoy the banter of a negotiation. In addition, my business allows me to be responsive quite quickly during most waking hours. If I get an inquiry/offer at 7pm on a Sunday evening or 7am on a Tuesday, I would imagine I will be quicker to respond than a broker. I also know I have my best interests in mind when I am negotiating on my own behalf, and I can make price concessions as I see fit. I can also follow up in the future if I want to drive revenue or choose to archive an inquiry forever.
On the flip side, there have definitely been negotiations I have screwed up. Perhaps someone annoyed me to the point of saying things that a professional broker without a vested interest wouldn’t say. Perhaps I pushed a price much too far and the buyer opted for something else. There’s a reason why some people are great at sales and domain name brokering and it’s something I wouldn’t do professional on behalf of others.
All of that said, I like that I will be able to choose when/if to negotiate on my own behalf or hand off a lead to an Afternic/GoDaddy broker. I also believe I can hand-off a lead if my own efforts have failed.
Good luck to those of you who use the self-brokerage option at GoDaddy. Feel free to share your feedback here or on X if you use it.
Update: When I turned on self-brokerage to test, I discovered a hurdle prospects will have to make in order to submit an inquiry. With all of this said, I am keeping self-brokerage “off” for the time being. Most of my domain names priced above $5k aren’t on Afternic anyway, and I manage those negotiations on my own.
